Kobo Arc 7-inch Android tablet, now in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes

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The Kobo Arc is a new 7-inch Android tablet, offering to push Kobo's services to the fore, with the benefits of the Android universe behind it.

The new tablet has been customised to integrate the content you like through Tapestries, letting you pin your choice of music, movies and books to your Tapestry. Kobo will then make recommendations, something its ebook apps already do.

Lying under Kobo's tweaks is Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, so Kobo has at least learnt from the mistake of the Kobo Vox, its previous tablet device, which was Android 2.3 and launched without Google certification.

However, things are looking better for the Kobo Arc. At the core is a 1.5GHz dual core TI OMAP 4470 processor, which we know packs plenty of power. There's also 1GB of RAM. The battery is said to offer 10 hours of use.

The 7-inch IPS display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which hits the specs nail on the head, being competitive at this size.

Arriving as a fully-fledged Android device, it will enable users to watch movies and play games on the Kobo Arc, as well as traditional reading - although naturally, you'll struggle to read this by the pool, thanks to glare off the screen.

There are two storage options on offer: the 8GB version will cost you £169.99, the 16GB £199.99.

The new device will find itself squaring up against the darling of Android tablets, the Nexus 7, which is £10 cheaper for the 8GB model, offers the latest version of the Android OS - Jelly Bean - and a more powerful processor.

With the Kobo app free to download from Google Play, the Kobo Arc might be a tough sell. It will be available in time for Christmas.

UPDATE: Kobo has announced that there will now also be a 64GB version of the Kobo Arc. Dues out in November the new model will cost £229.99.